In the fall of 2016, Alberta Health Services (AHS) discovered that the personal and confidential health information of nearly 13,000 people had been inappropriately accessed by an AHS employee over a span of 11 years.
AHS was alerted to the possibility of a privacy breach following a complaint made by another AHS employee, and the breach was confirmed by a review of Netcare audit logs. While no medical files were altered or compromised and the employee no longer works for AHS, the incident was a serious one for AHS to resolve. Their actions included notifying every affected person directly by mail and providing resources for people who wanted more information or support regarding the breach.
Fortunately, the AHS employee who recognized the breach did the right thing by reporting it, which underscores the importance of privacy breach awareness. Would your staff be able to spot a privacy breach and know what steps to take? Is your staff aware of what actions constitute a privacy breach? If you are a custodian, like AHS, do you have a policy and procedures in place should a privacy breach occur that affects you or your patients?
Learning to recognize and address a privacy breach is one of the many areas covered in Corridor’s Privacy Awareness in Health Care training. With learning content from Corridor’s privacy subject matter expert, Jean Eaton, you can equip your staff with the information they need regarding the collection, use and disclosure of personal health information.
Contact us to learn more about Corridor’s Privacy Awareness in Health Care online training.
